Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess"

In this essay, I would like to discuss one of Robert Browning's better known poems, "My Last Duchess." While some readers may be put off by Browning's language which now seems archaic, his poem is every bit as relevant today as when he wrote it almost two hundred years ago. It is as relevant in the twenty first century as it was in the sixteenth century which serves as the setting for the poet's history …

…conduct for a Duchess. It is appropriate that the poem ends with an exclamatory "me" just as the title begins with "My" as the Duke only cares about himself. It is equally consistent with a disturbing poem on jealous possessiveness that it is framed around discussions of a painting at the start and a statue at the end. One is left wondering if the Duke's new wife will also be added to his art collection.